Asian Markets Continue to Weaken amid North Korean Strife
With an additional weakness in the markets due to tensions in North Korea, Japan’s Nikkei Index fell on Thursday to the lowest level in more than two months.
Aug. 11 2017, Published 12:27 p.m. ET
Economic calendar
Let’s look at today’s economic calendar:
- 8:30 AM EST: US core consumer price index (July)
- 9:40 AM EST: Kaplan, an FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) member, speaks
- 11:30 AM EST: FOMC member Kashkari speaks
- 1:00 PM EST: Baker Hughes’s oil rig count
- 3:30 PM EST: CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) crude oil/gold/copper/S&P 500 speculative net positions
China
After starting the week on a stronger note and rising for two consecutive trading days, China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost its strength and reversed its direction amid dented global market sentiment. The ongoing geopolitical tensions between North Korea and the United States have weighed on the Shanghai Composite Index this week since August 9, 2017.
The Shanghai Composite Index started the day lower and closed the day at the lowest level in three weeks. In addition to the decreased risk appetite in the market, profit booking also limited the recovery of the index. The fall in the market was led by material shares on Friday, August 4.
On August 11, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.6% and ended at 3,208.54. The market is looking forward to the release of China’s new loans data that are tentatively scheduled to be released today.
Hong Kong
After starting this week on a stable note and rising to fresh two-year highs on Tuesday, August 8, 2017, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index lost momentum on Wednesday. It started to fall on Thursday by closing below the support level of 27,500. On Friday, August 4, the Hang Seng Index opened the day lower following the sell-off on Wall Street and a weakness in the global sentiment. After breaking the support level of 27,000 on Friday, the Hang Seng Index closed the day at 26,883.51 with a loss of 2.0%. The iShares MSCI Hong Kong (EWH) fell 2.3% to $24.17 on August 10.
Japan
Japan’s Nikkei Index started this week on a stronger note amid supporting economic data. However, it fell below 20,000 on Tuesday amid dented market sentiment and increased selling. Japanese markets are closed on Friday for Mountain Day. In the next part, we’ll see how the European markets performed in the morning session on August 11, 2017.
